Anti-drone protesters cited for blocking Beale AFB gates

MARYSVILLE — Four women and one man, who remained standing in front of a Beale Air Force Base gate after authorities asked them to move their protest off federal property, were cited Tuesday and sang "We Shall Overcome."

About 50 people gathered in the morning at the base entrance off North Beale Road as well as at a gate off Doolittle Drive to protest against drones as part of a national action, said Sacramento resident Cres Vellucci.

"This is more or less the Northern California protest," Vellucci said.

It included a man from Chico.

David Hartsough, executive director of San Francisco-based Peaceworkers, displayed the peace symbol when cited at the North Beale Road entrance.

Col. Phil Stewart, 9th Reconnaissance Wing commander at Beale, said in a statement after the protest, "It is our hope that these individuals, who have invoked their right to peaceable assembly, will do so safely and within the confines of the law in the future.

"We respect the rights of individuals to exercise free speech and the United States Air Force has always been and continues to be committed to defending lawful freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution," Stewart said.

Most protesters came from the Bay Area, San Francisco, Nevada County or Chico.

Chico resident Michael Pike, 65, described the protest as a grass-roots movement that doesn't always attract those who live closest to a military base.

"A lot of times they don't want to know," Pike said of what takes place at Beale.

The primary mission at Beale, for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, does not include drones that fire weapons, but a protester contended the base is an accomplice in the drone program.

Vellucci said most Beale protesters living outside Yuba and Sutter counties are not new to social activism.